about your life because my luck sucks!!

Took my 2003 Excursion in to my mechanic to have it "bulletproofed". No real issues prior, just want this thing to last a long time.

The list of things we did to the engine are as follows:
ARP Studs
OEM Gaskets
New Oil Cooler
EGR Delete
Heads decked and magnifluxed
FICM sent to ED and added Atlas 40 tune
Coolant filter added
Changed to ELC Coolant
Coolant bypass lines added to heads
Replaced a piston, ring and rods (Was banged up from injector tip previous)
Banjo Bolts
New valve guides installed

So here is where your life is better than mine. I get it back and my EOT/ECT deltas are further apart than when I took it in (was 8-9 degree spread, now 14-17 degree spread unloaded!!). As an added bonus I now have fuel in my degas bottle in my coolant!!! I suspect cracked heads even though the machinist said he checked them. None the less, engine coming back out and I am just sick and pissed about how much money has been spent and this crap is going on!
Chit happens I guess

Anyway, just had to vent and share this feel good story with the community!

 

Ouch! Don't know what to say

 

I was thinking the same. And no it does not make me feel better.
Will your mechanic eat some of the costs?

Sean

 

Man thats to bad, I know how ya feel spending that kind of money.

 

Why did you do all this, if you weren't having issues? Going in there to do work, no matter what the reason, you run risks like this.

You could have been having issues and not realize it (primary reason why I'm against one at a time stud install, I know you didn't do that, but I'm throwing that out there as this is a prime situation of the risk when going on those assumptions for that type of job) though and the knuckleheads really didn't do their job correctly.

There is a certain expectation that people have when they take their vehicle to get fixed, they really should be on the hook for everything, but rather or not you get that, is another thing entirely.

How good is this machinist? It takes precision work to do this type of stuff, especially with the 6.0.

 

There were issues but nothing major. I'm not griping about it, just thought I'd share the experience as others do. Things happen, if I had to guess I'd say I got a factory crap oil cooler and one of the heads got cracked installing the guides... Just a guess though.

The mechanic is a good dude and will make it right for me, it will be a solid 6.0 when we finally work the bugs out!

 

Sometimes you just can't win. I know from experience. It is nice to get ahead of the curve and try to fix things that aren’t broken, but are known to break with these trucks. But then you risk breaking something that isn't broken. "If it isn't broken don't fix it"

On the other hand waiting for it to break can really be a problem. Being far from home with an expensive tow job, and going to a shop you may know nothing about. The biggest thing is this can really ruin vacation.

Everything will work out and your truck will be ready to tackle many miles.

 

See, I don't agree with implications of that statement. I think the numbers are exaggerated due to what owners have done to these trucks that didn't know better and the preconceived notions that people have about certain parts and their "evils" as well. Not to mention the preconceived notions of what you can and can't do with diesels based on older generation of diesels. Yes, there are parts that are under tolerances that when abused by their owners they go, but it's the implication behind that statement that gets me.


I wouldn't (and most others) wouldn't advocate that either. It would be far cheaper due have put gauges on the truck (the OP has gauges since he knew the delta pre and post his "bulletproofing" of the truck and look for signs via the gauge readings or how the truck acts. Then when you start to see things happen that are known indicators of certain issues then you take care of it before it breaks.

These trucks will "tell" you when they are having issues. Now rather or not you are willing or able to "listen" in time, that's something else.

 

I don't recommend anyone go yard like I did to preventively
attack the 6.0. I just happen to have the means and other vehicles to get me by until the job is done. The problems with the 6.0 are well documented and in my opinion was a matter of when not if so I want to attack it now and I did. If nothing else maybe this helps someone that is not having issues to understand that you should follow the steps many have outlined to diagnose and know when to react rather than throwing the sink at it.

I will keep everyone updated! I am most curious of where the head is cracked!!

 

Not accurately documented though.

How many repeat jobs were due to tech error? (you have one right now and yours wasn't even needed at least to what you know and can show)

How many owners got claims through that shouldn't have? Some still try to. I hear people all the time, say: "Revert your truck back to stock and tell them you didn't have anything on there". How many people did that and got claims through when it could very well have been caused by the intake, tuner or whatever foul thing that was put on there.

You have people that were in the diesel truck market when the game was changing that had no business or knowledge of these new trucks. That all adds to those well documented issues, but how many would admit to having caused their own issues, if they even realized that they did?

As to what is in bold. Tell me one thing that will not breakdown eventually? Everything does, but I tell you one thing. I'm still waiting for my stock EGR and Oil Cooler to crap out on me and I've had then since 20 mile on the clock and I have over 200k. Since 70k my truck has been pushing over 508HP and still goes like it did when it had 20, even better. I also tow ~16k regularly. Based on what everyone carries own on this board, I should be be complaining about how crappy this truck is.

 

Tex you are splitting hairs man. No vehicle will ever have "accurately" documented
failures due to the many variables involved as you mention.
That point I will not argue with you, what I will argue with you is if you are implying that we
dont have a good indication of the weak points on these engines because
if you boil all the data down regardless of the source you will find commonalities and they are from engines that are tuned, un-tuned, loaded, unloaded, serviced per spec, not serviced etc... I think it's great you are on many of your original parts pushin that much HP. Many others aren't that lucky running stock!

 

That is true, but there is even more of that going on with diesel truck market then a lot of the others. I don't know that many people that put a/m intakes on an SC430 or tune them(there are tuners on the market, but I would be willing to bet that market is not as big as the diesel performance market, thus percentages of those type of claims will more then likely be less). Then you had those extra warranty claims due to the techs didn't know how to properly fix the 6.0 in the early years, which I'm willing to bet contributed to people's wrongful notion that the EGR system is a case and not just a symptom. Those type of issues only happen when new engines are released, so not every vehicle will be having that type of situation either.

Yes, they are "weak" points to where you have to worry about depending on how you drive, handle the vehicle etc. But what you are implying is that they are issues like say the 02-04 Mustangs that had the too thin passenger gaskets. No matter what, those had to be taken care off, no matter how you handled the vehicle etc. They would go. With regard to the 6.0, that isn't the case, otherwise, my experience would not exist, especially when these issues happen on stock trucks. There are a lot of other people that are running a stock truck that don't have issues, their experience wouldn't exist either.

This whole notion of "bulletproofing" the 6.0 is implying that it's "weak" spots are like the 02-04 Mustangs and their passenger gaskets. That isn't the case.

There is always going to be bottlenecking of parts. Even the much worshipped 7.3 had them as well.

 

Agree to disagree I guess....

If we were discussing recalls I would agree, but we are talking modifying engines to avoid
common problems. For many it works out just fine, for me it was a can of worms. Just like for many the egr is a pain and for some it's no issue at all. So so many variables.

Thanks for your insight though; I certainly respect your opinions!

 

Nothing wrong with correcting the potential problems before they pop up. Did It on my 6.0 and all was well. I believe the mechanic would be eating that bill if what you say is the case if it went in not exhibiting the higher temp differential and fuel in coolant.

 

Yeah he will make it right, I have no doubt!